Column - Dennis Palmitier: Election provides chance to shift wind

Will we Panhandleans perform our constitutional right - and duty? Will we amass at the polling stations in a record turnout - a record turnout meaning all registered voters - or will apathy remain the standard?

"Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve." (George Bernard Shaw)

Those who plan to attend their right and duty come Election Day, remember the following names when placing your vote: John Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Spiro Agnew, John Tower, Newt Gingrich, Bill Clinton, Henry Cisneros, Gary Condit, Duke Cunningham, Mark Foley, etc. All of these men were elected or placed in political office - by a majority device - and abused their terms of office and worked/lived by another set of Commandments separate of the Ten.

I know, there are many more names that have disgraced a political office in this Boomer's lifetime.

God only knows how many pages would be required to list those disgraces.

"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." (H. L. Mencken)

The question for voters come this Election Day is: Do we want to continue getting it good and hard from the people we elect? Will we choose to elect or re-elect someone to office who tells us one thing during the courtship dance, then steps on our toes once they have us?

Since we, as voters, are victims of our own device, the time has come for us to take a close look at the state of affairs in Austin and Washington, D.C.

If ever an ill wind from an overabundance of cow patties ever blew, it blows from those two seats of government. It is time for voters to take control and return government to the people.

Election Day is our only means of curtailing the malaise that has overtaken our state and federal governments. It is our day to make a change. If you choose not to vote, you have no right to complain about what goes on in a political office.

When you are casting your vote for your favorite candidate, think about the unfortunate citizens of China, Iran, Syria, North Korea, how free to think aloud and vote they are not, and thank God for the democracy we live in and how graced we are to be Americans.

"It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." (Winston Churchill)

Dennis Palmitier was born and raised in Pampa. He is a frequent contributor to the Other Opinion page.